Psychedelic Lunch

Welcome to our “Psychedelic Lunch” series, “Industrial Metal Edition,” where we find out how deep the rabbit hole really goes and explore psychedelic tunes from the 60’s to today. Weekdays At Noon EST. Enjoy the trip!

KMFDM is a German industrial band from Hamburg led by multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko, who founded the group in 1984 as a performance art project.

KMFDM – Kein Mehrheit Fur Die Mitleid
Roughly Translated: No Pity for the Majority

Spawned in Germany during 1984, KMFDM pioneered the crossover between techno/dance and heavy metal with their signature industrial sound. Moving to Chicago in the mid-80’s KMFDM was the pride of WaxTrax! Records during the label’s peak. Rapidly evolving year by year through intense experimentation and touring; the band has redefined themselves with each new release.

Venturing on to dabble in side projects and then re-establish KMFDM in Seattle during 1999, Sascha’s revolving band of misfits have stood the test of time. KMFDM is currently helmed by the dual vocal attack of the band’s founder / leader, Sascha and the siren-voiced Lucia. To quote themselves, “The future belongs to those of us still willing to get our hands dirty.” Living by their D.I.Y. philosophy, KMFDM launched their own online store, KMFDM Store (www.kmfdmstore.com) and record label (KMFDM Records). Through relentless musical exploration and reinvention they have continued to top themselves. The band’s 2011 release, WTF?! and its companion single “Krank,” was no exception.

It’s almost impossible to believe that KMFDM is now a band of veterans. Their trailblazing style of industrial ultra-heavy beats, subversive lyrics and righteous rebellion has always seemed so very fresh and anticipatory of the next step in musical evolution that it feels as if they just took the scene by storm last year. Yet, believe it or not, KMFDM’s Hell Yeah marks the Industrial band’s 20th album, a true benchmark of any stalwart industrial band.

Contrary to what the music industry says, the industrial spiral of German band KMFDM doesn’t necessarily reflect “political rage.”

“That’s just something this sort of business’ press releases say,” vocalist/programmer Sascha Konietzko told the Deseret News. “I don’t consider any of the songs reflecting any type of political rage, unless you’re talking about personal politics.

“There’s really nothing about the music that allocates to politics in general,” said Konietzko. “The songs are basically about life and normal stuff. I feel the young people are continuously influenced by this heavy advertizing environment. It’s almost hard to distinguish between the virtual reality of TV and movies to real life. I think the kids relate to our music, and it gives them a foothold to cling to because our music is still something they can look at that doesn’t sell out.”

KMFDM was a mere “art experiment,” said Konietzko. The ultra-heavy beats became the groundwork for the band’s 1986 debut “What Do You Know Deutschland?”

“I got together with our guitarist (En Esch) and began recording some things I had penned together,” said Konietzko. “And ever since then, we’ve had musicians come and go. It’s as if En and I are the suns and the other musicians at the time come and revolve around us.”

In 1988, the band released “Don’t Blow Your Top,” which featured the breakthrough single “Virus.” Since then, KMFDM has released five albums. “Nihil” was released earlier this year.

“Contrary to the past, I wrote all the songs for `Nihil,’ ” said Konietzko. “I’m kind of like a dictator-type and didn’t want to fuss with the petty problems we had during the other recording sessions in the past. And this time, there was minimal problems. I’m very happy with the way `Nihil’ sounds.”

In addition to “Nihil,” which contains the hit “Juke Joint Jezebel,” KMFDM released tracks on two new movie soundtracks, “Bad Boys” and “Hideaway.”

“I’m happy we did `Bad Boys,’ ” said Konietzko. “I saw that movie and it’s not bad, though `Juke Joint Jezebel’ stands out like an open gash on an album full of rhythm and blues. `Hideaway’ is real bad. If I had seen the movie before giving permission for the song (`Go to Hell’), I wouldn’t have gave the go-ahead.”

Konietzko also remixed two Dink songs, “Green Mind” and “Get on It,” and asked Dink to join the tour.